News

ZANA

The feature film debut ZANA by Antoneta Kastrati was developed at MIDPOINT Feature Launch in 2017. Writer and director Antoneta Kastrati and producer Casey Cooper Johnson (Crossing Bridges Films), who attended our Feature Launch program, recount their experience:

„With our first feature, there’s such a big learning curve to overcome and the stakes feel so high. Feature Launch was essential in helping us get our script ready to shoot. The guidance we got on our script was geared toward helping us figure out what story we wanted to tell and then helping us find our way through to that goal. In addition, it was a great place to network and meet not only talented fellow filmmakers and expert advisers but also potential collaborators and partners for our movie."

In 2017, the project was awarded the MIDPOINT Development Award (8. 000 EUR) for the best project and also won the opportunity to be presented at connecting cottbus co-production market.

Moreover, Antoneta attended our special MIDPOINT Editing Room program for projects in rough-cut stage designed to continuously help MIDPOINT graduates.
Two 5-day sessions were led by MIDPOINT tutor Ivo Trajkov (MIDPOINT Feature Launch group leader, who also serves as Head of Editing Department at Prague´s FAMU).
The MIDPOINT Editing Room program was realized in collaboration with Prague´s newly renovated Studio FAMU, a specialized division of FAMU designed for film and television production and postproduction. 

Antoneta says: “I had been with ZANA in the editing room for months. Prior to that I was writing it, preparing it, shootingit. I was on the inside. It was so refreshing to get feedback, expert advice and new perspective in the editing program at FAMU studio.
I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the best Mentor/Editor Ivo Trajkov in the editing room and use his creative input and editing skills in shaping ZANA. The MIDPOINT Editing Room program was such an important step in turning ZANA into the film it is today. In addition it was very helpful having a screening at FAMU and getting feedback from students.“

ZANA
“Haunted by her long-suppressed past and pressured by family to seek treatment from mystical healers for her infertility, a Kosovar woman struggles to reconcile the expectations of motherhood with a legacy of wartime brutality, in documentarian Antoneta Kastrati’s deeply personal feature debut.”

Toronto International Film Festival / Discovery
Kosovo, Albania, 2019, 97 minutes

Screenings:
September 7 / TIFF Bell Lightbox / 21.30
September 9 / TIFF Bell Lightbox / 22:00
September 11  / TIFF Bell Lightbox / 21.30
 

ENTWINED

Minos Nikolakakis' feature debut ENTWINED will also premiere in Toronto International Film
Festival´s Discovery section. The project was developed within MIDPOINT program in 2013.

Writer and director Minos Nikolakakis says about the MIDPOINT experience:
“'The MIDPOINT sessions helped me considerably to craft the screenplay in a more audience oriented direction, and reshuffle the structure in order for the pace of the film and the story to be one step ahead of the audience, hence maintaining the mystery and tension. It also helped me to balance the supernatural and realistic element in order to have the perfect blend of a 'grounded' mythical story, something that feels like it could happen to you or me in the real world.”

ENTWINED
“City doctor Panos relocates to a remote village in order to offer his services to the community. It’s love at first sight when he sets eyes on Danae, who lives in isolation, with a rare condition that causes her skin to resemble tree bark. Determined to cure her, Panos will soon discover Danae is not the helpless princess he thought she was and time is of the essence for both of them.”

Toronto International Film Festival / Discovery
Greece 2019, 89 minutes

Screenings:
September 8 / Scotiabank Theatre / 18:15
September 10 / Scotiabank Theatre / 17:15
September 14 / Scotiabank Theatre / 17:45

MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2017 was realized with the support of Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, International Visegrad Fund and Macedonian Film Agency. It was presented in cooperation with Audiovisual Producers' Association (APA), Creative Europe Desk CZ/MEDIA, connecting cottbus and CineMart. MIDPOINT  2013 was realized with the support of MEDIA Programme, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Slovak Audiovisual Fund and International Visegrad Fund.